Post by etypephil on Oct 20, 2018 7:10:37 GMT

Just scanning around for mushrooms, I found this accurate piece in response to a thread about Jaguar Mark numbers.

"cass3958

Jaguar started with the Mk4 as I believe there were three versions of the Jaguar SS prior to the Mk4 none were named as a Mk number. They were known as the 1 1/2, 2 1/2, and 3 1/2 litre SS Jaguars but in 1945, after the war, Jaguar dropped the name SS which originally stood for Swallow Sidecars as it had a bad meaning with the German SS during the war.

There was no Mk6 as this clashed with the Bentley Mk6 which came out at the same time so Sir William Lyons jumped the six and went to Seven so as not to get in to an argument with Bentley.

Someone wrongly stated above that there was a Daimler version of the original 1960s S Type. There was not but there was a Daimler version of the 420 which came after the S Type which was known as the 420 Sovereign.

And to cap it all off there was actually no original "S Type" Jaguar. It was originally known as the "S Model". All the advertising material,workshop manuals and paperwork with the car refer to it as the "S Model" but as there was a C Type, D Type and E Type it became known as the S Type. The C stood for COMPETITION and was the racing version of the XK120. The Strangest fact though is that no one knows what the "S" stood for in the "S" model as it was basically a Mk2 Jaguar with an extended boot line based on the Mk10. The S Type had a slimmed down a version of the Mk10 and E Type independent rear suspension instead of the leaf springs a Mk2 sported.

The Mk1 Jaguar was as someone rightly stated only became known as the Mk1 after the Mk2 version was built.

During the design phase the Mk1 was code named the Utah1. The Mk2 was code named Utah2. The S Model was code named the Utah3 and was also called the XJ3 but only at the design phase. My S Type has small tags sewn in to the underside of the front seats with these Utah3 and XJ3 numbers on them.

Hope this helps to fill in the gaps."

To this I can add that the S model was so designated because it is the first letter of suspension, as in independent rear.

Elsewhere in the thread there are a few errors;

"I've never seen a Mk I/II or S-type/420 bodied version with a steering lock and blanked ignition & starter. That surely must have been a Daimler only feature?

I have never heard of them being called Daimler-Jags"

All of the compact Jaguars and Daimlers featured a starter button to the very last.

Daimler-Jag was a very common expression during the 1970s.

"Edward Turner was Daimler's MD in the '50's,he designed the 2.5 V8,then used a photocopier to enlarge it to 4.5 litre...so the only interchangable parts are the distributor and the bakalite fittings on the rocker covers that guide the spark plug leads...a spectacular fail that has led to the demise of the big V8.

It was rumoured that Jaguar trialled the big V8 in the Mk10,but Lyons canned it because it left the 3.8 XK unit in it's dust!

In a similar fashion,a much improved SP252 was planned,but was canned by Lyons because it would have outrun his beloved E Type."

At 4,561cc, it is really a 4.6, not a 4.5, the engine is externally identical to the 2.5, and is a direct swap for the smaller one; even the 2.5 flywheel fits the 4.6 (originally automatic only). In a straight line a 4.6 engined Dart / SP250 was not far behind the 3.8 E-Type, but it wasn't so hot on the twisty bits, especially if they were bumpy.

Britain is an Idiocracy;- we have government of idiots, by idiots, for idiots.

Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2018 7:28:54 GMT

Funny enough I read that earlier also Phil , in fact I went back over the thread and found to my surprise that I had contributed to it regarding the Daimler Dart . Some Bloke from Norfolk was alleging that this car was being wrongly referred to as such which is Pedantry in the extreme .